Virginia Student Suspended for Complaining About Girl in Boys’ Locker Room Back in Class as Parents Appeal Punishment

A Virginia high school student facing suspension for expressing discomfort with the presence of a biological female in the boys’ locker room will be allowed to attend classes — for now.Loudoun County Public Schools said that it would suspend two male students after they were accused of Title IX violations for allegedly making “disparaging comments” and threats against a female student who identifies as male and was in the boys’ locker room at Stone Bridge High School.However, on Wednesday, lawyers for the students — one of whom the school punished despite his family leaving the state — said at a press conference that the suspension was on hold, for now.An attorney with the Founding Freedoms Law Center, Josh Hetzler, said that the law firm, as well as America First Legal, were preparing to seek injunctive relief in federal court this week. “But last night, we filed a Title IX appeal with LCPS, which, thankfully, has put a pause on the suspension,” Mr. Hetzler said. “If LCPS fails again to do the right thing, we will have no choice but to pursue swift legal action in the coming days.”Mr. Hetzler criticized LCPS for not pausing the punishment for the student who is no longer enrolled in the district. He also accused the school district of engaging in “discriminatory” behavior, noting that a third student, who is Muslim and was investigated for the incident, had the charges against him dropped.One of the parents of the students, Seth Wolfe, spoke at the press conference and said LCPS has “punished innocent boys with trumped-up charges that could jeopardize their future.”“Our 16-year-olds are branded for life simply because they spoke the truth,” he said. “Loudoun County chose ideology over common sense, and every parent should be alarmed.”The district has previously said that certain media outlets were distorting the facts of the case, though it has declined to provide details about what it says has been distorted. An LCPS spokesman, Mr. Adams, told the Sun in a statement, “At no time would LCPS suspend a student simply because they express discomfort. A reading of our Title IX resources should make it clear that there is a high bar to launch a Title IX investigation and an even higher bar to determine a student is in violation of Title IX.”While LCPS says it conducted a thorough investigation, Virginia’s attorney general, Jason Miyares, investigated the district and said his office was unable to corroborate the allegations against the students. He referred the matter to the Department of Education and the Department of Justice for further investigation. The assistant attorney general in charge of the DOJ’s office for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, said on X that LCPS’s punishment is “very wrong” and “will not stand.”

Virginia Student Suspended for Complaining About Girl in Boys’ Locker Room Back in Class as Parents Appeal Punishment

Virginia Student Suspended for Complaining About Girl in Boys’ Locker Room Back in Class as Parents Appeal Punishment

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